Sylvester j



(ModeL) S, J. BOWERS.

Horse Collar Fastening. I iia,i Patented Se-pt..28, 18810..

\MTFIESEEE I lqver TmR we a Asp'zmzermwm Q 5%; 7WM/Me vfar/wg N. PETERS, PrlOTO-LITHOGRAPMER, WASHINGTON I) c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

HORSE-COLLAR FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 232,590, dated. September 28, 1880.

' Application filed July 19, 1880. (Model) To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, SYLvEs'rER J. BOWERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ganandaigua, in the county of Ontario and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in HorseOollar Fastenings and I do hereby declare that the followin g is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a partof this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a front elevation of the coupling, showing the sections thereof connected to their respective ends of a horsecollar. Fig. 2 is face view of the two sections of the coupling, showing the dovetail groove and tongue for connecting them together. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the two couplingsections when connected together, the section being taken on lines 2 z of Fig. 2.

The present invention has relation to certain new and usefulimprovements in that class of couplings for horse-collars adapted to be connected to the free ends thereof, the sections of said coupling being held together by a dovetail device.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the coupling, as illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, A B represent the two sections of the coupling, composed of any suitable metal, and cast with ears b, two upon each section. These ears are located midway of the ends of the coupling, with such relation to the rolls of the collar, as

. represented by a; y, that the ears will locate themselves between said rolls. This is considered a decided advantage over those couplings having the ears embracing the rolls instead of between them, as in my invention. The ears I) being located between the rolls of the collar, the rivets will pass through solid leather instead of through the rolls, which are stuffed with straw. In the first case there is greater firmness and less liability of the sections Working loose, While in the old way of passing the rivets through the stuffed rolls the sections will invariably work loose and render the coupling insecure.

The sectionsAB are connected together by a dovetail tongue and groove, the section A havthe coupling and on the bare leather.

ing a dovetail groove, 0, to receive a tongue, d,

those heretofore in use, is formed on the sections transversely or crosswise of the length of the contacting faces, the advantage being that they are easier of adjustment, with less strain upon a close or box-top collar. It is also easier manufactured by casting, requiring no covering, and the necessity of a spring or other like device for holding thesections together is entirely avoided, for the simple reason that the harder the holdback-strap strains upon it the tighter the joint becomes, while the tendency of all other dovetail couplings is to pull apart by the holdback-strap.

Each section A B upon its under side is formed with a bridge, 0, so that when the sections are coupled together the two bridges will form a guard to receive and hold the breastpole or holdback-strap to its place in the center of the bottom of the collar and on the coupling. This feature of my invention is considered of great importance, as it effectually accomplishes the great design of saving the wear of the collar where the pole-strap is wound around the bottom of it, the guard holding the holdback-strap firmly in its place and entirely preventingitfrom sliding to either side and off the coupling and wearing the collar, as has been the case heretofore, especially on hack-collars, where the holdback-strap runs on an angle to the end of the pole, invariably sliding the strap inside the center of collar off This soon wears the leather of the collar through, and in such case the improvement of the guard effectually obviates the above-named difficulty, and is therefore considered of very great importance.

The sections A B are formed with a hameor hame together separate from each other, but

expressly to hold collar and hame together and prevent them from becoming detached.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The coupling-sections A B, having ears b, connected to the collar between the rolls thereof and secured by rivets or other similar means, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The coupli rig-sections A B, having a dovetail groove, 0, and tongue 0?, running transversely or crosswise of the contacting ends of the sections, the latter also having ears I), adapted to be connected to the collar between the rolls thereof, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

SYLVESTER JAY BOWERS.

Witnesses CHAs. H. PADDOCK, WM. MCOLAREY. 

